The U.S. Air Force Space Battlelab has backed away from the Near-Space Maneuvering Vehicle (NSMV) following a series of technical problems that have caused redesigns and scuttled flight attempts.
PRAGUE - The Czech Republic on March 16 approved the purchase of Raytheon Co.-made AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAMs) for its air force's new fleet of Jas-39 Gripen fighters, which are set to be delivered over the next few months. Financial terms were not disclosed. Czech officials declined to disclose the number of missiles being purchased. The missiles will be delivered by 2009.
APPROVED: President Bush said he is looking forward to "working with the Senate so that all of my top priorities are included" in a war supplemental bill. The House approved an $81.4 billion version - down from Bush's $81.9 billion request - on March 16. The House cut some foreign assistance funds and beefed up money for equipment for the Army and Marine Corps.
The House Science Committee March 17 approved bills that lawmakers said would help lead to discovering near-Earth asteroids and strengthening U.S. supercomputing capabilities. The bills, which passed the panel by voice votes, were reintroduced this year after passing the House during the 108th Congress but failing to make progress on Capitol Hill.
Two House Armed Services Committee members, both ardent shipbuilding advocates, have written President Bush to protest the U.S. Navy's plan to compete production of the DD(X) multimission destroyer and award the work to one shipyard. Reps. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) and Jo Ann Davis (R-Va.), who hail from shipbuilding states, told Bush that a winner-take-all competition, now planned for this year, would delay the destroyer by a year, add to its cost and could lead to industry layoffs.
LHA REPLACEMENT: If Congress adds to the U.S. Navy's fiscal 2006 budget request for ships, the service would want $417 million more to speed the LHA Replacement (LHA(R)) program, Adm. Vern Clark said March 16. Clark, the chief of naval operations, told the Senate Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee that the LHA(R) underscores the service's Sea Power 21 effort to move toward future littoral and antiterrorism amphibious operations, which is why it tops his wish list of add-ons.
DRY DOCK CONTRACT: Arlington, Va.-based United Defense Industries Inc. has been awarded a $5.5 million contract by the U.S. Navy for dry docking phased maintenance of the USS Hurricane (PC 3) and USS Squall (PC 7), the company said March 17. The work includes installation of the combat craft retrieval system, underwater hull and superstructure preservation, underwater machinery and structural repairs, girder modification and ship service diesel generator maintenance. The two ships are in San Diego.
NUCLEAR SUB: The U.S. Navy has awarded General Dynamics Electric Boat a $36.6 million contract modification for additional nuclear-submarine work. Initially awarded March 3, 2004, the contract could be worth more than $1.1 billion over five years if all options are exercised and funded, the company said March 15.
With the Army Future Combat Systems' (FCS) preliminary design review only three years away, the Government Accountability Office is warning that the program is in deep trouble. The number of critical technologies the Army says are mature has decreased from last year, Paul Francis, director of GAO Acquisition and Sourcing Management, told The DAILY March 17.
The day the U.S. Air Force announced it is creating a "center of excellence" for unmanned aerial vehicles, a senior lawmaker suggested that a similar entity might be needed for the Army. The Air Force, which indicated in February that it was considering the UAV idea (DAILY, Feb. 10), said March 16 that it has begun setting up the center at Indian Springs Auxiliary Air Field, Nev., to improve interoperability among various UAV command and control systems.
The international main battle tank market will produce more than 8,100 tanks worth more than $33 billion through 2014, Forecast International Weapons Group says. The prediction comes in spite of the glut of available tanks, weapons systems analyst Dean Lockwood said in a March 14 statement. "Despite a glut of available tanks, the international main battle tank market remains a highly competitive and dynamic environment, populated by the established market powerhouses and an influx of energetic new players," Forecast said.
Acting U.S. Air Force Secretary Peter Teets is predicting that the Defense Department will reverse its decision to cut the service's purchase of the C-130J Super Hercules, providing the strongest sign yet that the transport aircraft program may avoid an early demise.
An article in the March 15 issue of Aerospace Daily & Defense Report, headlined "Army speeding fielding processes, acquisition chief Bolton says," misstated the rate of production of Small Arms Protective Inserts (SAPI). By December 2003, the U.S. Army was at peak production, contracting six companies to produce a total of 25,000 SAPI sets a month. Production figures at the end of February 2005 indicated that more than 500,000 sets had been produced, 60% percent of the Army objective.
PRAGUE - European officials have cleared Italian defense company Finmeccanica's proposed acquisition of BAE Systems' avionics and communication businesses under a complicated arrangement known as the "EuroSystems" transaction. The European Commission announced March 15 that the deal does not raise competition concerns in Europe. It also includes dissolving the AMS 50/50 joint venture that specializes in command and control systems and radar and simulation systems.
Steven E. Reid has been named vice president of unmanned aerial vehicle systems. Joseph G. Thomas has been appointed senior vice president of unmanned systems.
UCAV vs. JSF: The U.S. Defense Department's original goal of building unmanned combat air vehicles for one-third the cost of an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is no longer feasible given current requirements, according to Rick Ludwig, Northrop Grumman's director of Joint Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS) business strategy and development. "They're asking this airplane to do the same things that manned aircraft do," Ludwig said at a press briefing in Washington March 15.
Democratic appropriators will fight to remove $8.5 million proposed in President Bush's fiscal 2006 budget to finish a study of the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said March 16. "Don't reopen this nuclear door," Feinstein said on the Senate floor. "Those of us who are appropriators will once again try to remove this funding from the budget."
Data Link Solutions (DLS) will make the Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS) compliant with Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) software under an $82 million contract. The product will be called MIDS JTRS, said Rockwell Collins, which owns DLS along with BAE Systems. Fighter aircraft, tanker/transports, command and control aircraft and helicopters are potential users of the MIDS JTRS terminal, along with maritime and fixed ground-base sites, DLS said.
GLOBAL HAWK: An operational assessment (OA) of the Global Hawk A model has been delayed, the Defense Department said late March 16. The assessment originally was to be completed in time to support a DOD review of the unmanned aerial vehicle program in March, but the OA now is planned for completion later this year. DOD did not give a reason for the delay. The Air Force is buying seven A models and is midway through developing the larger, more capable B model, which has been grappling with cost increases (DAILY, March 16).
RFP DELAY: Release of a request for proposals (RFP) for NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites, series R (GOES-R) has been delayed from March 15 to about March 22, NOAA said in a notice on FedBizOpps. The delay is due to "internal review scheduling conflicts," NOAA said.
